Chaff tape cutter



March 27, 1962 F. M. JOHNSON 3,027,047

CHAFF TAPE CUTTER Filed April 27, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 27, 1962 F. M. JOHNSON 3,027,047

CHAFF TAPE CUTTER Filed April 27, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. fifl/VC/S m dob 4450A! ited States Patent 3,027,047 CHAFF TAPE CUTTER Francis M. Johnson, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force Filed Apr. 27, 1956, Ser. No. 581,254

6 Claims. (Cl. 221-30) (Granted under Title 35, U.S. Code (1352), see. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the United States Government for governmental purposes without payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a cutter and, more particularly, to a tape cutter adapted for use with a chaff dispenser wherein boxes of chaff are detachably secured to conveyor tape.

Chaif is a material that has radar reflecting properties. its most frequent application is military. In particular, it is widely used for radar countermeasures where it is dropped from a small group of aircraft to simulate the approach of a much larger group, Chatf dispensers are carried by the aircraft to dispense the chaff in accordance with mission objectives.

Chaff dispensers presently in use comprise a chaff con tainer. The chaff itself is placed in small boxes and is detachably secured in spaced parallel relation on conveyor tape. These boxes of chaff, along with the conveyor tape, are folded in the chaff container. An end portion of the conveyor tape is secured to some means for draw- 1 ing it and the boxes of chaff out of the container. After this, the tape is stripped from the boxes of chaff and these boxes of chaff are then ejected outside the aircraft. Since large numbers of these boxes of chaff are folded in the container, the conveyor tape is necessarily long. In the past, this tape has proved troublesome since after a large portion of the tape had been stripped away from the chaff boxes, the tape had a tendency to tangle and jam the dispensing apparatus. To prevent this from happening the principal object of this invention is to devise a mechanism adapted to cut the conveyor tape into pieces I after it has been stripped away from the boxes of chaff.

This, and other objects of the invention, will become more apparent when read in the light of the accompanying drawing and specification in which like reference characters refer to like parts of the several figures.

FIG. 1 discloses a diagrammatic side section of a chaff dispenser combined with a chaff tape cutter.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the conveyor tape and chaff boxes, showing the way the chaff boxes are posif tioned on the conveyor tape.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a chaff tape cutter.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of a chaff tape cutter.

FIG. 5 is a fragment of a section on the line 5--5 of FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a chaff dispenser indicated generally at comprises a chaff container 12. Boxes of chaff 14, glued or otherwise fastened to conveyor ribbon or tape 16, see FIG. 2, are folded in the container 12, as seen in FIG. 1. The container 12 has an opening 18 through which the conveyor tape 16 and boxes of chaff 14 can be drawn. A chaff dispensing surface or guide apron is secured by any conventional method to container 12, and is adapted to support the portion of the conveyor tape 16 and the chaff boxes 14 mounted on the tape after they leave the container 1 2. This dispensing surface 20 has a narrow slot 22. An idler wheel 24 is mounted closely adjacent this slot. A pair of drive rollers 26 are mounted and driven by any conventional means beneath the narrow slot 22 in dispensing surface 20. The conveyor tape 16, as seen in FIG. 1, passes over idler wheel 24, through slot 22, and then between these drive 3,927,647 Patented Mar. 27, 1962 face 20. When the portion of the conveyor tape 16 carrying the box of chaff 14 passes over slot 22, the tape is ripped from the boxes and is drawn down between rollers 26, while the boxes of chaff 14 are forced over the edge 28 of dispensing surface 20 by gravity and the pressure of the succeeding chad boxes on the tape. This edge is usually located at an orifice 29 in the outer surface 31 of an airplane so that when a box of chaff is pushed or falls off the edge 28 it leaves the airplane.

Positioned directly below the power drive rollers 26 is a chaff tape cutter indicated generally at 30. The chaff tape cutter, see FIGS. 3 and 4, comprises a support 32 that includes a rectangular bed plate 34. On each corner of the bed plate 34 is an upstanding support bracket 36, which supports in spaced parallel relation a rectangular top plate 38, see P16. 4. An alignment plate 46 is positioned intermediate bed plate 34 and top plate 38, in spaced parallel relation to both. Alignment plate 40 is held in its proper position by means of a shield bracket 42 which, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, is connected between the periphery of the alignment plate 4-0 and the top surface of bed plate 34 by welding or some equivalent means. Shield 42 prevents portions of the tape 16 from jamming the gear drive mechanism described below.

A power input shaft 44 is rotatably journaled in bearings 46 in bed plate 34 and alignment plate 40, see FIG. 4. A driving gear 48 is integrally secured to shaft 44 and is positioned to mesh with and drive gears 50. Attached to each gear 59 is an integral shaft 52, which is rotatably journaled in bearings 54 in bed plate 34 and in top plate 38. A spider 56 having cutting arms 58 in spaced parallel relation to bed plate 34 and top plate 38 is mounted on and rotates with each shaft 52.

Top plate 38 has narrow tape receiving guide slots 60, see FIG. 3. A cutter bar 62, extending the full width of each guide slot, is secured to the under surface 39 of the top plate 38. The cutter bar has a cutting edge 64, which is positioned in the same plane as an edge 61 of the tape receiving slot 69, see FIG. 5. As seen in FIG. 4, the cutting edge 59 of cutting arm 53 is positioned to move in a plane closely adjacent the cutting edge 64 of cutter bar 62. This positioning of the cutting arms is accomplished by means of spacer ribs 41 on guide plate 40. These ribs have the double function of acting to strengthen the guide plate and also positioning spiders 56 on shaft 52.

In operation, referring to FIG. 1, the conveyor tape 16 and boxes of chaff 14 are folded in a container 12. One end of the conveyor tape 16 is connected to power driven rollers 26. When rollers 26 are actuated, the conveyor tape 16 is drawn up out of the container 12 and over the dispensing surface 20. Then the dispensing tape 16 is drawn through the narrow slot 22 over idler wheels 24- and between power driven drive rollers 26. In so doing, it is stripped away from the boxes of chaff, which, as seen in FIG. 1, fall out of the airplane through orifice 29. The conveyor tape 16 (in this case there are two parallel strips of tape) secured to each box of chaff 14, after passing between rollers 26 then passes through guide slots 60 in cover plate 38 in the chaff tape cutter 30. These guide slots 60 conduct the conveyor tape between the cutting edges 64, cutter bar 62 and the cutting edge 59 of the cutting arms 58 on rotating spider 56. These spiders 56 are rotatably driven by input drive shaft 44 and as the tape is fed into the slots 60, it is continually being cut into small pieces by the cutting arms of the rotating spider 56. This prevents the chaff tape from jamming the dispenser mechanism. The cut tape then leaves the air craft through another orifice in the body of the aircraft, not shown.

If aluminum ribbon is continuously fed into the slots 60 of the chaff tape cutter 30, while the cutter blades 58 are rotated rapidly, each strip of aluminum cut away from the main portion of the ribbon will be found to be crimped or folded longitudinally. This produces a superior chaff particle since the longitudinal fold increases the number of refiecting surfaces on each strip, as well as increasing the rigidity of the strips. This increased rigidity is thought to further increase the reflecting power of these chafi particles.

All this suggests that cutter 30 by itself can be used to manufacture and dispense chaff. If such a cutter were mounted on an airplane, along with a large roll of aluminum ribbon, feeding the aluminum ribbon into the cutter and ejecting the particles from the aircraft would be a convenient way of producing and dispensing chaif as required. The advantage of such an arrangement would be the decreased amount of machinery required.

Many variations and modifications of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that the invention may be practiced as otherwise than specifically described and still remain within the scope of the appended claims.

i claim:

1. A chafi? dispenser including a conveyor tape, boxes of chaff removably secured thereto, a container for receiving said boxes of chaff and said conveyor tape, means for drawing the conveyor tape and boxes of chad out of the container and separating the conveyor tape from said boxes of chaff, said chafi dipsenser further including cutting means positioned to receive said tape for cutting said tape into pieces after it has been separated from the boxes of chaff, said cutting means comprising a support, a spider rotatably mounted in said support, said spider having cutting arms, driving means connected on the hub of said spider for rotating it, a cutter bar having a cutting edge mounted on said support, positioning mean mounted on said support for causing the cutting arms of said spider to rotate in a plane closely adjacent the plane of the cutting edge of said fixed cutter bar.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 including guide means on said support for conducting the conveyor tape between the cutting edge of said cutter bar and said cutting arms.

3. A chaff dispensing apparatus comprising two conveyor tapes, boxes of chaff detachably secured to said conveyor tapes and in spaced relation to each other, a chafi": container, said tapes, with the boxes attached, being foldable in said chaff container, means connected to said conveyor tapes for drawing the conveyor tapes and boxes of chaif from said container, means for separating the conveyor tapes from the boxes of chafi, and power actuated cutting means for cutting the conveyor tapes into pieces of predetermined size after they have been separated from the boxes of chaff, said cutting means comprising a bed plate and a top plate, said top plate being provided with a pair of openings for the passage of said tapes, a stationary cutting blade secured to the underside of said top plate adjacent each of said slots, a pair of vertically positioned shafts each journalled at top and bottom to rotate in said top plate and said bed plate respectively, a spider rigidly mounted on each of said shafts for rotation therewith, spider arms on said spider, cutting blades on each of said spider arms, said cutting blades travelling a rotary path parallel to the plane of said stationary blade for cutting said chaff with shearing stress, and means for applying power for rotating said shafts.

4. A chafif dispensing apparatus comprising boxes of bottom to rotate in said top plate and said bed plate relation to each other, a chalf container, said tape with said boxes attached, being foldable in said chaff container, means for drawing the conveyor tape and boXes of chaff from said container, means for separating the conveyor tape from the boxes of chaff, and power actuated cutting means for cutting the conveyor tape into pieces of predetermined size after it has been separated from the boxes of chaif, said cutting means including a support, a moving cutter blade and a fixed cutter bar mounted on said support, said fixed cutter bar having a cutting edge, said moving cutter blade positioned to move in a rotary path closely adjacent and parallel to the cutting edge of said fixed cutter bar, cutting said tape with shearing stress.

5. The apparatus set forth in claim 4 including guide means in said suport for conducting the conveyor tape between the cutting edge of said fixed cutter bar and said moving cutter blade.

6. The apparatus set forth in claim 5 wherein said moving cutter blade is rotatably mounted on said support and comprises a spider having a power driven hub and cutting arms, positioning means mounted on said support for causing said cutting arms to rotate in a plane closely adjacent the plane of the cutting edge of said fixed cutter bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 661,130 Pape Nov. 6, 1900 1,827,354 Cooper Oct. 13, 1931 2,033,340 Kranz'et al. Mar. 10, 1936 2,116,577 Ilsemann May 10, 1938 2,707,027 Brown Apr. 26, 1955 2,751,981 Hawkins June 26, 1956 2,856,185 Whipple Oct. 14, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 579,259 Great Britain May 4, 1945 748,394 Germany Nov. 2, 1944 

